1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of data storage and, more particularly, to continuous uninterrupted access of the components of a data storage system.
2. Related Art
In the context of computer systems, enterprise storage architectures provide mass electronic storage of large amounts of data and information. The frenetic pace of technological advances in computing and networking infrastructure—combined with the rapid, large-scale sociological changes in the way the way these technologies are used—has driven the transformation of enterprise storage architectures faster than perhaps any other aspect of computer systems. This has resulted in a variety of different storage architectures, such as, for example, direct attached JBODs (Just a Bunch Of Disks), SAN (Storage Area Network) attached JBODs, host adapter RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive/Independent Disks) controllers, external RAID controllers, redundant external RAID controllers, and NAS (Network Attached Storage).
Enterprise architectures may utilize disk storage systems to provide relatively inexpensive, non-volatile storage. Disk storage systems have a number of problems. These problems include the following. Disk systems are prone to failure due to their mechanical nature and the inherent wear-and-tear associated with operation. Any number of components or devices may fail within a distributed storage system. Aside from the drives themselves, all of the other electrical circuits and network components may fail.
A failure of a crucial component in some storage systems, especially a network component or circuit, may shut down the entire system or result in lost data. Even minor failures may have disastrous results if not quickly addressed.